For health, education, workforce, finance and other non profit and public service organizations that want to leverage resources and strategically plan for U.S. or international market expansion.

Monday, February 10, 2014

Building your Organization’s Language Capacity

Steven
Worth, Plexus
Consulting Group, LLC

“If a person who speaks three languages is called
tri-lingual and a person who speaks two languages is called bi-lingual, what is
a person called who speaks only one language?”—the answer, the Europeans like
to tell us, is “an American!” It is the
height of irony that a nation built of immigrants from every country on the
planet should be so weak in languages—the logical consequence of living on a
continent where just about everyone speaks the same language.

But as our organizations increasingly push into
every corner of the globe language is increasingly an issue as members and
customers quite naturally prefer to do business in their own languages. Building your organization’s language
capacity is a three-step process.

Step one: start
by taking an inventory of what your staff’s current language abilities
are. Most of us would be surprised to
know which languages some of the people we work next to speak, read, and write
but we never had a reason to ask. Ask
people to grade their language abilities using the 0-5 grading scale below.

Language
Proficiency Definitions

Proficiency
Code

Speaking Definitions

Reading Definitions

0 - No Practical Proficiency

No practical speaking proficiency.

No practical reading proficiency.

1 - Elementary Proficiency

Able to satisfy routine travel needs and minimum courtesy
requirements

Able to read some personal and place names, street signs, office
and shop designations, numbers and isolated words and phrases

2 - Limited Working Proficiency

Able to satisfy routine social demands and limited work
requirements

Able to read simple prose, in a form equivalent to typescript or
printing, on subjects within a familiar context

3 - Minimum Professional Proficiency

Able to speak the language with sufficient structural accuracy
and vocabulary to participate effectively in most formal and informal
conversations on practical, social, and professional topics

Able to read standard newspaper items addressed to the general
reader, routine correspondence, reports, and technical materials in the
individual's special field.

4 - Full Professional Proficiency

Able to use the language fluently and accurately on all levels
pertinent to professional needs.

Able to read all styles and forms of the language pertinent to
professional needs.

5 - Native or Bilingual Proficiency

Equivalent to that of an educated native speaker.

Equivalent to that of an educated native.

People generally know where they rank, and they tend
to do so honestly.

Step two:
determine what your priority markets are outside the US and begin
consciously to include language ability among your hiring criteria—the way our
competitors do in most markets around the world. Fluent language ability is especially
important because it implies an understanding also of the underlying national
cultures of the language you speak, which is also a valuable asset to have
within your organization.

Step three:
develop language translating and interpreting policies for your
organization’s meetings and literature—including your website. Bear in mind that this is an expensive and
thankless proposition—thankless because translations are more an art than a
science with people speaking the same language regularly disagreeing over the
correct way to say essentially the same thing.
The best way to handle translations is to assign the people it is
intended for to do it in the way that makes most sense to them. The costs should also be handled locally so
that the end users know it is incumbent on them to use these materials in ways
that generate revenue while also expanding your market reach. Policies regarding the organization’s legal
liability of the literature that is published in its own name should also be
addressed.

Don’t allow your organization to become a modern-day
version of the Tower of Babble that could not realize its potential because of
the confusion caused by people speaking different languages!

About Me

For health, education, workforce, finance and other non profit and public service organizations that want to leverage resources and strategically plan for U.S. or international market expansion.
Plexus Consulting Group® provides a broad-range of consulting and management services to not-for-profit and public service sectors. We help clients overcome challenge, achieve excellence, and maintain success.
The Plexus team of multilingual, multitalented professionals align themselves primarily among lines of industry specialization, including Globalization, Education, Workforce Development, Healthcare, and Financial Services.